Matthew 6:9-13; After Jeeus cautions His close followers to avoid two pitfalls in prayer in this passage, He continues with an example of a concise model prayer. The Lord’s Prayer is prefaced by Christ, “This, then, is how you should pray….”, which provides a proper example of first acknowledging the Greatness of Father-God. Followed by […]
Matthew 6:5-8; Springboarding from the recent study of the Beatitudes, our pre-Easter pursuit of Christ’s ministry focus continues in Matthew’s gospel. The Sermon on the Mount is one of Jesus’ most powerful and challenging messages, so we follow the Spirit’s leading into the veins of gold contained in those deep insights about Christian conduct and […]
Matthew 5:1-12; The final Beatitude is an expansion of Beatitude 8 on the topic of persecution. Jesus warns His disciples, and those in attendance at the Sermon on the Mount, to anticipate both verbal and physical hostilities “because of me”. Just as the OT prophets were mistreated for proclaiming the word of God, so would […]
Matthew 5:1-10; The third horizontal Beatitude addresses the difficult topic of mistreatment of Christians for simply practicing their faith. Jesus conditions His teaching about persecution with, “because of righteousness”, so believers understand the nature of the world’s reaction to the gospel message. The promise in Beatitude 8 repeats the emphasis upon our eteral reward that […]
Matthew 5:1-9; In Beatitude seven, Jesus emphasizes the necessity of believers being peacemakers. Christians are not to simply be peaceful or peaceable, but to expand beyond those inner workings of the “Prince of peace” to become active reconcilers of human conflict. The promised blessing for those who pursue peace entails, “they will be called children […]
Matthew 5:1-8; The second horizontal Beatitude is a challenge from Jesus to His followers to be “pure in heart”. David engaged purity several times in the Psalms, comparing it to the high value of pure gold before the Lord. The subsequent promise for those who seek to purify their lives from the inside was, “for […]
Matthew 5:1-7; As noted while unpacking the first four Beatitudes, they are vertical in nature by defining a right and acceptable relationship with Goe. Beatitude five begins the horizontal instruction from Jesus, defining how believers are to relate to one another ….as well as the world. The focus of this message is the powerful theme […]
Matthew 5:1-6: The fourth Beatitude is again vertical in nature, revealing God’s acceptance of the indivdual and their acceptance of the Lord by trusting in the goodness of His plan. The central theme is righteousness, which a commentator described as, “a pattern of life in conformity to Gods will”. Beleivers are to “hunger and thirst” […]
Matthew 5:1-4; In the third Beatitude, Jesus addresses the topic of meekness. Our Lord promised, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth”. Our Amerian society favors assertive, powerful and influential people as the ‘movers and shakers‘….but God blesses those who keep their strength under control. Samson from the book of Judges is […]
Matthew 5:1-4; After establishing the context of the Beatitudes and unpacking what Jesus meant by denoting, “the poor in spirit” last week, we continued with the 2nd Baatitude. Christ identifies a second grouping of believers who are blessed because they “mourn”, with the promise that comfort will be their reward for enduring. Several biblical examples […]